I've been using multiple instances of Excel 2003 using two monitors for a long time using Windows XP. I used to do this by opening Excel and opening Excel again from the Start menu and opening files through windows explorer and controlling which instance of Excel it would open because it opens based on the recent active Excel instance. For example, I open Excel program instance #1 and then I open Excel program instance #2. If I click on the Excel program 1 and then go to windows explorer and open a file, it will open on Excel program instance #1. If I click on instance #2 then open a file, it will open on instance #2.
However, now I have Windows 7 Pro with Excel 2010. At first, it would ALWAYS open the file in the first instance of Excel whenever I opened a file from windows explorer. I found some registry edits that will open a file in a new instance of Excel EVERY time. I don't really like either solution. I want to control the number of Excel instances and determine which instance I want the file to open. I know I can do this via the Open/File menu in Excel but it's a much more onerous way. I would like to know if there is a way I can make Excel 2010 and Win7 behave the way it did before with Excel 2003 and WinXP.